Boundless Energy

December 8, 2008

Las Vegas Review Journal
Most of Obama's top-level Cabinet appointees have been named, with the notable exception, as far as Nevadans are concerned, of the next energy secretary.

Whoever it is will be charged with deciding how to proceed with the proposed nuclear waste repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, which Obama has said he opposes but which some officials say will be difficult to remove from the regulatory pipeline.

Reid told The Associated Press last week that any potential secretary who is pro-Yucca won't be confirmed by the Senate.

Reid is also likely to have a hand in appointments to the commissions that oversee the utility and nuclear industries . An article in the trade publication Energy Daily last month said insiders are looking at Reid protégés as potential heads of two such agencies.

At the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the only Democratic member is former Reid aide Gregory Jaczko, whom Reid muscled onto the board over objections from the Bush administration and the nuclear industry.

According to Energy Daily, Jaczko is now the "odds-on favorite" to chair the NRC.

At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, one of two Democrats is Reid ally Jon Wellinghoff, a former Nevada public utility consumer advocate. In Washington, Wellinghoff has aggressively pushed for energy efficiency and renewable technology, Energy Daily reported.

Asked about Wellinghoff in a recent interview with the Review-Journal, Reid said he definitely believes the Nevadan should chair the FERC.

Reid wouldn't disclose any of the other names he has been whispering in Obama's ear, but said he's had input on a broad range of appointments, including energy and another yet-unnamed Cabinet position relevant to Nevada and the West: the Department of Interior.

Stephens Media Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault and Review-Journal writer Steve Carp contributed to this report. Contact reporter Molly Ball at [email protected] or 702-387-2919.